CancellationThere are no plan cancellation fees. You will simply need to pay out the full remaining cost of your device, which will include any monthly device credit that Optus was going to cover. Plus all charges incurred up until the date of cancellation.

for example I buy an iPad on a 24 month contract e.g. the 60 dollar plan — 20$ for the plan and 40$ for the device.

now 1 year into the contract I decide to cancel, would this mean I need to pay 12x$40 = $480, keep the device

Your thinking is correct, as long as that is your plan CIS. You overlook the bit about 'device credit' though. Optus will often subsidise the hardware a bit in return for you going on a 24 month contract. This amount it not made clear in your deal upfront (and it really should be Optus).

If the iPad costs retail around $960 then you likely have no subsidy. Other plans would have an extra $10-$30 a month to pay back on that remaining 12 months.

Regardless, a quick LIVE CHAT session should see your payout figure calculated and explained.

That's my understanding. On many deals the subsidy is $0, but others have some. Optus refer to charging for this amount in the CIS but I can't find any where where the amount if any is revealed upfront.

Never had occasion to ask myself as I always buy outright and get SIM only deals. Consider doing this as the cost of ownership and flexibility are much less than what you pay on a plan even with subsidies. Eg a second had iPhone X is now $600 outright

Btw applaud you looking into the details a bit more upfront. Many never even look at the CIS before signing a 24 month contract.

I got burned a bit with a prior contract and it took me so many calls and chats to Opus support to figure out which CIS was actually the one that applied to my plan. Also as phones get more and more expensive, you want to be sure what you sign up for

I will check with optus if/what the subsidy will be. I assume they would need to list it as an item on the actual monthly invoice ?

Auto-Generated Message (12:36:30 AEST) : Hi, this is Evelyn M, your Optus Sales consultant. How can I help?Auto-Generated Message (12:36:32 AEST) : Solution Type: "UDE Chat"Visitor (12:36:44 AEST) : HiEvelyn M (12:36:57 AEST) : Hi there.Visitor (12:37:28 AEST) : I would like to know how much the 'device credit' is for the iphone XR 256GB on the "$105" Own a Phone plan isVisitor (12:37:40 AEST) : I can't find the amount in the CISEvelyn M (12:38:33 AEST) : Hope you are doing well.Evelyn M (12:38:47 AEST) : Sure, I can help you in getting the details for device credit,Evelyn M (12:38:59 AEST) : Allow me a moment to check on that.Visitor (12:39:11 AEST) : thank youEvelyn M (12:39:24 AEST) : Welcome.Evelyn M (12:42:34 AEST) : I just had a check.Evelyn M (12:42:54 AEST) : It hasn't been updated yet on the website.Visitor (12:43:19 AEST) : so you can't tell me?Evelyn M (12:44:05 AEST) : Sorry, we do not have an option to check on that now.Visitor (12:44:38 AEST) : but isn't this a critical piece of information one would need to sign up for a contract?Visitor (12:44:42 AEST) : I mean your CIS saysVisitor (12:44:43 AEST) : Cancellation There are no plan cancellation fees. You will simply need to pay out the full remaining cost of your device, which will include any monthly device credit that Optus was going to cover. Plus all charges incurred up until the date of cancellation.Visitor (12:44:58 AEST) : and you can't tell me what the device credit is..Evelyn M (12:45:49 AEST) : If you sign up for a device, OPtus will cover the device cost for 24 months.Visitor (12:45:55 AEST) : wellEvelyn M (12:46:26 AEST) : Once the plan is activated, we are able to find the remaining device fee.Visitor (12:46:35 AEST) : there is the point ... i want to make sure that i don't get any bad surprises in case i have to cancel the plean earlyEvelyn M (12:46:43 AEST) : We do not have an option to find the device fee now.Visitor (12:48:28 AEST) : mhh... ok thanksAuto-Generated Message (12:48:42 AEST) : Visitor has requested for email transcript. The email will be automatically sent after the interaction is wrapped up.Evelyn M (12:48:46 AEST) : Thanks for understanding.

We'll I guess its the equivilent of trying to buy a car and being told you can't look under the hood until after the deal is done. Caveat Emptor

Its once again symptomatic of Optus "trust us" approach to billing, when there's some very real reasons why such trust shouldn't be forth coming.

In their defence, its likely the "Device Credit" is something created in marketing and the billing system can't actually handle it. So like many other aspects of Optus billing these things are calculated manually down the track and applied as needed. So you definitely need to tell Optus exactly what plan and exactly what phone you wanted to get the Device Credit calculated. Unfortunately it sounds like even if you have this info, standard Optus Customer service people still have no ability to calculate it still. Perhaps a mod here could do better?

As for legality, Depite the passing reference to "device credit" in the CIS, the inability of Optus to provide a concrete figure for this before signing the contract would suggest to me that it wouldn't be enforcable in a court of law. But who enforces things in a court of law these days?

Do note the device credit will be a sensible amount. Something betweem $0 and $30 per month subsidy.

You will simply need to pay out the full remaining cost of your mobile handset, which will include any monthly device credit that Optus was going to cover. Plus, all charges incurred up until the date of cancellation.

Now, the question you're asking is how we work out the full cost of the equipment?

Further information can be found within the full Terms and Conditions @ optus.com.au/standardagreements